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I had that issue with the Rurouni Kenshin Remake, but I don't think I have that problem with the CSM anime anymore.
I wonder if you would prefer the direction of the Reze movie then.

You think the anime still has the same problems of the manga and only made it more boring, right? I thought so too, but after the rewatch I can take it more at face value and appreciate that it took itself seriously.

Yeah I know. I guess it suggests he was more thinking about what he didn't want it to be than what he wanted it to be.
I think he mainly wanted to make the characters feel human.

I don't think the adaptation captured the essence of the manga in the way GitS and Aku no Hana did. It tried tho.

Creepy mainly in how the devils are presented.
I think the action scenes benefit from the damage being felt, unlike in the movie where they throw each other through buildings and it not showing on them.

Hard to compare, it's like asking if a movie adaptation has a better presentation than its book source material.
1. I think jokes are the hardest to adapt, because they depend the most on specific manga techniques and because "comedy is subjective" there is little incentive to adjust to the new medium. When Makima feeds Denji the noodles it looks awkward in the anime, because it was obviously just inserted because it's an iconic panel in the manga.
I think for anime, jokes work better when they're more seamlessly integrated into the flow while in manga they work better through contrast. An example is in the beginning of ep 4 when Denji gets his hand cut off, the anime made it funnier by dynamically changing Denji's expression.
2. The serious or dramatic scenes are the most improved, because the anime dragged it out and added sound design. The Aki crying scene with Denji self-reflecting afterwards was improved like that and also by reducing the tonal whiplash.
3. Some abstract scenes are hard to adapt, like when the gun devil flashback is shown. The manga uses statistics as part of the panel composition to create a surreal newspaper-like atmosphere (it does it again later on when the gun devil appears). The anime only mentions the total number of deaths, it's not the same feeling.
4. For action scenes, I honestly didn't care much at this point in the manga. I like that they try to make fights creepy and uncomfortable, it feels close to the manga at this point. And I think the anime has an advantage with the Denji fights because of the sound effects. Enhances the gory aspect of it. Would've been interesting to see how the fight against the darkness devil had been handled.
5. For many things I can only speculate based on how I filled out the blanks while reading the manga. Is the world of Chainsaw Man supposed to be dark or quirky? The anime made the world dark and used it as an explanation for why the characters are all fucked up in the head. In the manga, it can sometimes come across they are just quirky for meme-baiting.
6. Whether I prefer the anime or the manga version of that arc, I think it depends on if I'm in the mood for a faster or a slower pace. Because the biggest difference is that the anime feels a lot slower than the manga.

I think there are degrees. CSM is not as thematically "deep" as GitS but it's also not completely braindead like DB.
The issue with the one piece and kill la kill interpretations is that they are entirely head canon, but CSM is pretty explicit about its themes. And I think the themes of CSM are pretty much identical to those of Evangelion.
Although the question is if there being depth or not determines how it should be presented.

For Dragon Ball, I'm not sure if there is any thematic depth that can be brought out. For CSM, I think it has the exact same thematic depth as NGE. The main difference is that CSM is a lot "edgier" in presentation (except for EoE which is about as edgy).
For the silly script thing I agree. Makima saying "only answer with yes or woof" is jarring with the super serious presentation. Also probably why they skipped the muscle devil from chapter 3. But then again, is that a problem with the adaptation being subdued or with the original script being dumb? I probably wouldn't mind if Makima didn't say the woof thing there even in the manga.
But I assume you're referring more to the story and characters and not dialogue or minor scenes. And yeah, I can see that to a certain extent.

I said "sorry" because I know you're tired of FMAB always getting bashed for the comedy lol
I also don't think over the top presentation is always inferior, which is why I originally criticized the CSM show so much. But now there is this movie and it's just not as interesting. It might be preference, but I don't think if season 2 continued with the direction of the film that I would care about it much. It just feels like any other modern anime now. Which is weird, because it tries to be crazier and more over the top but that just made it more generic.

Yeah I know you meant the Science Saru one coming up. It looks more like style over substance to me, not like a work about exploring themes. Which is why I'm wondering if GitS was originally about exploring themes or if only the Oshii movies were.
So I was thinking if the GitS movie managed to make GitS deep and serious, then maybe a CSM adaptation could also make CSM deep and serious if it adjusts the focus. But again, I doubt it's realistic to expect this nowadays.

The CSM show had a lot of comedy scenes, but the comedy was more subdued. In the CSM movie, they exaggerated the comedy a lot more, but imo it ended up being less funny as a result. It felt like FMAB's comedy scenes to me (sorry).
Actually the difference in tone reminds me a bit of FMA03 vs FMAB now that I think about it.

I think Makima was also presented as creepy/uncanny in the beginning of the manga, but I guess the anime leaned a bit more into that with the more dark and serious presentation.

My impression was that the GitS movie added most of the substance and the manga itself was more supposed to be horny sci-fi while the TV show was cop action, but maybe it gets more substantial in the later chapters/episodes?
Though even if that's the case and the movie did add all the substance, it would be unrealistic to expect a CSM adaptation to do the same I guess.

"I'm just not sure if throwing this approach to any title seems to be the best decision"
That's the problem I have with these two adaptations. The show is entirely realistic, dark and atmospheric, the movie is entirely cartoony, colorful and rule of cool. If I had to choose I would probably choose the show's approach, but maybe there is a middle ground. I just can't really think of a reference point there, a show that looks the way I would want a CSM adaptation to look like.

The CSM show reminds me a bit of Texhnolyze with the atmosphere they were going for. Very slow-paced, lingering scenes with moody soundtrack in the background, darker color palette and emphasis on shading and more realistic designs. I wonder what I would've thought of it if there was no manga source to compare it to.
Why do you think it worked for other titles but not CSM? Not enough substance / too silly in premise?

With the movie style, it was exactly what I originally wanted from it, but it just feels so shallow now. But maybe the issue is not the style change but something else, like it being a 1:1 adaptation.

I'm pretty much flip flopping at this point. Still not sure if I think this style fits CSM more. When I watched the season 1 TV show I thought it was too serious/realistic but now with the movie I kinda miss it being serious/realistic.

Yeah, sad

Yeah same, that's why I rewatched it afterwards lol

Can only nitpick a few specific scenes in the second half. First half was perfect execution, second half is probably the best action movie I have ever seen despite some things I didn't like. Felt like watching a dance at times with how the music was synchronized with the action.
Just can't think of anything major the movie is missing or could be done to improve it. I can imagine it came out exactly as Fujimoto envisioned when he drew the manga without any compromises. Maybe I can think of more flaws as time goes on.

Did you not like it?

Nice. Yeah, the second half goes crazy with the deaths lol. Especially the twist with the protagonist becoming actual swindler I thought was really clever.
I have a hard time seeing it as one of the best cyberpunk shows since it mainly borrows the aesthetic without really exploring any themes related to the genre, but it's one of the most entertaining action shows for sure.

The TP manga still had many of the issues of the other Zelda manga, mainly that most of the fights and adventure lack substance due to having to follow the game structure. So that aspect was still mostly the same despite being so much longer.
But what it did so well, it gave a huge character arc to Link that centered around the chosen one / destiny trope, which I didn't see coming at all. I thought it would just be your typical power-fantasy but it ended up being kinda the opposite. I think that's also what the game went for but couldn't really do because of the videogame + silent protagonist aspect.
If the fights and adventure had been better and less episodic it could've been an amazing manga.

Yes I wanna read the other Zelda manga by the same mangaka. Though it's kinda meh to go back to the nonsense after TP. Right now I'm reading Four Swords and it's really dumb. It also doesn't work. Like, literally. The whole concept is that Link splits into four with each of these Links having a different color, but this is a fkn black and white manga, so keeping track of the Links is a pain in the ass. Thank god it's a short one.